Guyanese born British Baroness gets U.N. Appointment

[Dove]

Lady Amos given top UN humanitarian affairs job

Ban Ki-moon appoints Valerie Amos, who sat in Tony Blair's cabinet, after getting David Cameron's blessing.


Lady Amos, who has been named as the top UN official in charge of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief. Photograph: Reuters

Lady Amos, the first black woman to sit in the cabinet, was today appointed as the most senior UN official in charge of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, announced the appointment of Amos as under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief after David Cameron gave his blessing.

Amos, 56, currently the British high commissioner to Australia, became the first black woman to sit in the cabinet when she replaced Clare Short for a brief stint as international development secretary in 2003. She then served as leader of the House of Lords until 2007 when Gordon Brown nominated her as the EU's special representative to the African Union.

British officials were delighted by the appointment of Amos, who will replace Sir John Holmes, the former British ambassador to Paris, to become the most senior British figure at the UN.

The appointment is made by the UN secretary general, though he did so after a signal from Cameron, who met Amos yesterday.

"This is a massively significant job, one of the top five at the UN," one source said. "It would be unthinkable for Britain not to have one of the top five jobs. France has peacekeeping, the US has political affairs and China has health. It makes sense for Britain, which has pledged to meet the 0.7% target [to spend that amount of gross national income on overseas aid by 2013], to have this job."

Sources said that Cameron, who forwarded just one name to Ban Ki-moon's office, was not appointing a former Labour cabinet minister to try to recreate Tony Blair's famous "big tent" from the other side of the spectrum.
"This is not about big tentery," one source said. "Valerie got the job on merit. She was Africa minister in the Foreign Office before she became development secretary so Valerie is very well known there. She knows her way round. Valerie is also not seen as a political person."
Amos will replace Holmes who was appointed to the UN humanitarian affairs job in January 2007. There were not high hopes for Holmes, who was given the job as a consolation prize after Blair declined to appoint him as ambassador to Washington or head of the Foreign Office.

But Holmes threw himself into job. "The NGOs went for John because they saw him as a grey haired diplomat," one source said. "But he surprised everyone. He has been steady and highly competent."

Source

[BK]

thank the good lord she doesn't hold Guyanese nationality because then she would NEVER had gotten the required recommendations from Drugdeo and the post would have gone to a lesser qualified candidate from say Canada (just like what Jaggy did to Odeen and Bertie Ramcharran when he sidelined both of these two more than qualified gentlemen when their candidacies were up for certain positions in the multilateral arena - Odeen to OAS, and Bertie to head the UNHCR). There were two other gentlemen whose names escape me at the moment, but one was with the security detail in one of the African countries and another one was a senior auditor with the UN.

[Kwaku]

ah wonder if the Freedumb house bloggers could tell me if the Guyanese Foreign Minister ever travelled out of guyana.  Maybe she doesn't have a passport,  no diplomatic passport available for her.  Then again she didn't really need one.

[Gtman1]

Where in Guyana is Amos from?  Anyone knows her family history?

[Kwaku]

I think she was born in Wakeanaam.

[john b]

Yes . I extracted this from GCN

Amos, one of three children born to Edward and Eunice Amos, was born in 1954 in Guyana, a country on the northern coast of South America, just east of Venezuela. The area once was home to a large population of African slaves. Formerly known as British Guyana, it was a crown colony after 1928; however, when members of the country's African- and East Indian-heritage majority gained political ground in the 1950s, the country won its independence from Britain in 1966. Prior to that, however, Amos enjoyed a pastoral childhood in Wakenaam, playing near the banks of the Essequibo River. Her parents were both teachers, and instilled a respect for education and achievement in their children from an early age. Amos also remembered her close-knit village as an important influence. "There was ... that community bond among residents," an article in the Evening Standard by Nigel Rosser quoted her as saying. "Every adult looked after the children. I think one of the most important things is to understand who you are, the nature of your identity. Be proud of it and have confidence."

[Dove]

Where in Guyana is Amos from?  Anyone knows her family history?

Will fill you in; but you should remember from the number of time I posted items aobut her her and on the other forum... my family is well acquainted with hers...